Telomeres: One of the Most Promising Anti-Aging Breakthroughs I've Ever Seen

April 18, 2011|182,766views

Thousands of studies have been published on telomeres and telomerase. They are known to maintain genomic stability, prevent the inappropriate activation of DNA damage pathways, and regulate cellular aging.

In humans, telomere length and integrity plays a role in diseases, disease susceptibility, and aging. Short telomeres are a risk factor for many diseases.

According to H+ Magazine:

“... [S]everal recent studies have indicated that telomerase expression might have significant anti-aging effects ... [I]t appears that a few relatively small genetic alterations in the mammalian genome and protein expression patterns, including increased telomerase expression, can result in a significantly longer lifespan and a reduction in age-associated diseases.

Thus it’s very likely that telomerase will be a major target for genetic alterations designed to increase the human lifespan, remaining a very active area in anti-aging research.”

Dr. Mercola's Comments:

Although telomeres appear to be a brand new addition on the health scene, they were actually first discovered back in the 1930's. Then, in 1973, Alexey Olovnikov discovered that the telomeres, which are tiny units of DNA at the very end of each chromosome, shorten with time because they cannot replicate completely each time the cell divides.

Hence, as you get older, your telomeres get shorter and shorter.

Eventually, DNA replication and cell division ceases completely, at which point you die. This is now thought to be a major key that explains the process of aging itself, and holds the promise of not just slowing aging, but actually reversing it. Some now believe the human lifespan could be 150 years, or longer.

Telomere Findings Led to 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology

In 1984, Elizabeth Blackburn PhD, professor of biochemistry and biophysics at UCSF—not to be confused with Greta Blackburn, featured in the interview above—discovered that the enzyme telomerase has the ability to lengthen the telomere by synthesizing DNA from an RNA primer. She, along with Carol Greider and Jack Szostak were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2009 "for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase."

I believe the science of telomeres offers the most exciting and viable possibility for extreme life extension—the kind of anti-aging strategy that actually allows you to regenerate and literally "grow younger."

Naturally, researchers are hard at work devising pharmaceutical strategies to accomplish this, but there's solid evidence that simple lifestyle strategies can do this too.

This is great news, as short telomeres are a risk factor not just for death itself, but for many diseases as well. For example, telomere shortening has been linked to:

Decreased immune response against infections

Type 2 diabetes

Atherosclerotic lesions

Neurodegenerative diseases

Testicular, splenic, intestinal atrophy

DNA damage

Animal studies have also shown that these types of health problems can actually be reversed by restoring telomerase functioning.

How does Telomere Length Affect Aging and Lead to Death?

Every cell in your body contains a nucleus, and inside the nucleus are the chromosomes that contain your genes. The chromosome is made up of two "arms," and each arm contains a single molecule DNA, which is essentially a string of beads made up of units called bases.

A typical DNA molecule is about 100 million bases long. It's curled up like a slinky, extending from one end of the chromosome to the other. At the very tip of each arm of the chromosome is where you'll find the telomere.

If you were to unravel the tip of the chromosome, a telomere is about 15,000 bases long at the moment of conception in the womb. Immediately after conception your cells begin to divide, and your telomeres shorten each time the cell divides. Once your telomeres have been reduced to about 5,000 bases, you essentially die of old age.

"Telomeres keep our chromosomes intact, in the manner of the plastic caps that hold the ends of shoelaces together. As cells divide and replicate, telomeres eventually shorten; when they become too short, cells die."

How Your Lifestyle Can Speed up or Slow Down the Aging Process

It stands to reason that many of the strategies that lead to optimal health would also slow down telomere shortening, and research has shown this to be accurate. Conversely, your lifestyle can also accelerate telomere shortening, effectively causing premature aging.

Obesity, lack of exercise, psychological stress and smoking all cause production of free radicals, which can cleave telomeres and significantly speed up the telomere-shortening process.

But that's not all. Several studies have now linked chronic psychological stress with accelerated telomere shortening, which helps explain the well-documented detrimental effects that stress has on your health.

One such study, led by Nobel Laureate Elizabeth Blackburn, was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2004. They found that female caregivers who reported very high levels of perceived stress had shorter telomeres in their lymphocytes (key cells of your immune system)—equivalent to one decade of additional aging—compared to women reporting low stress levels!

A recent University of California press release also mentions other studies relating to psychological stress and telomere shortening, including one that examined people with chronic post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Not only was there a relationship between PTSD and shorter telomere length, but even more remarkable was the correlation between exposure to childhood trauma (prior to the age of 14) and telomere shortening.

In fact, they believe the link between PTSD and decreased telomere length could be attributable to the exposure to childhood trauma, more so than to PTSD.

Another study, led by Eli Puterman, PhD, also found that non-exercising women with histories of childhood abuse had shorter telomeres than women who did not experience such abuse.

Interestingly enough, abuse victims who exercised vigorously at least three times a week showed NO such link! It appears that regular exercise effectively negated the detrimental effects of childhood abuse trauma on their telomeres.

In fact, among the women who did not exercise, each unit increase in the Perceived Stress Scale was related to a 15-fold increase in the odds of having short telomeres. Those who did exercise regularly showed no correlation between telomere length and perceived stress!

This is truly a fascinating and groundbreaking realm of longevity research, as being able to reduce telomere shortening—essentially stopping the cellular aging process that eventually kills you—is one of the most promising anti-aging strategies we know of to date.

Much of the research surrounding telomeres is focused on turning on a gene that produces the enzyme telomerase. Your reproductive cells, which contain telomerase, do not undergo the same telomere shortening process that other cells do. So researchers are now screening different chemicals for their ability to turn on the telomerase gene in an effort to develop the first true anti-aging drug.

In fact, research has shown there's a direct association between reduced telomere shortening in your later years and high-intensity-type exercises. In a study published in Mechanisms of Aging and Development, the authors state:

"The results of the present study provide evidence that leukocyte telomere length (LTL) is related to regular vigorous aerobic exercise and maximal aerobic exercise capacity with aging in healthy humans.

LTL is not influenced by aerobic exercise status among young subjects, presumably because TL is intact (i.e., already normal) in sedentary healthy young adults.

However, as LTL shortens with aging it appears that maintenance of aerobic fitness, produced by chronic strenuous exercise and reflected by higher VO2max, acts to preserve LTL.

Sprint 8—Your Best Anti-Aging Prescription

Avoid being fooled like 95 percent of those that are exercising. Traditional cardio is not your best bet at improving your health and life, high intensity exercises are.

Sprint 8 exercises are a perfect example of high-intensity exercises. The key to performing them properly is to raise your heart rate up to your anaerobic threshold. You keep pushing at maximum effort for 20 to 30 seconds, and then recover for 90 seconds.

The cycle is then repeated for a total of eight repetitions.

Because it is very difficult to accurately measure your heart rate when it is this high it would be best to use a heart rate monitor until you are comfortable with precisely the amount of exertion you need to reach your target zone.

Sprint 8 exercises can be performed with any type of exercise -- with or without equipment. So, while having access to a gym or exercise equipment will provide you with a larger variety of options, you don't require either. You can just as easily perform Sprint 8 by walking or running outdoors.

Another benefit is the time it will save you. Instead of doing an hour-long cardio workout, you'll be done in 20 minutes or so. The actual sprinting totals only 4 minutes!

The other exciting benefit of Sprint 8-style exercises is its ability to naturally increase your body's production of human growth hormone (HGH), which also plays a significant role in the aging process.

Total Video Length: 0:22:16

Increasing Glutathione Levels Also Helps Reduce Telomere Shortening

Another powerful strategy that shows great promise in reducing telomere shortening is to increase your glutathione levels. There are studies in progress indicating that increasing glutathione levels can provide similar results as high-intensity exercise to preserve telomere length.

Glutathione (GHS) is manufactured inside your cells from its precursor amino acids: glycine, glutamate and cystine, and is therefore not a compound you can ingest directly.

Expensive glutathione supplements are available, but you can also increase your glutathione levels by making sure your diet includes foods rich in the sulfur amino acids your cells need to synthesize glutathione.

Eating a high quality whey protein is the easiest and most convenient way to do this. Other food sources include animal foods and eggs.

I am so convinced of the research on slowing telomere shortening to live longer that I take our Miracle Whey protein every morning (typically after my morning exercise program) and have been doing Sprint 8 exercises about twice a week since April 2010.

*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This
product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. If you
are pregnant, nursing, taking medication, or have a medical condition, consult your
physician before using this product.

Disclaimer: The entire contents of this website are based upon
the opinions of Dr. Mercola, unless otherwise noted. Individual articles are based
upon the opinions of the respective author, who retains copyright as marked. The
information on this website is not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship
with a qualified health care professional and is not intended as medical advice.
It is intended as a sharing of knowledge and information from the research and experience
of Dr. Mercola and his community. Dr. Mercola encourages you to make your own health
care decisions based upon your research and in partnership with a qualified health
care professional.

If you want to use an article on your site please click here. This content may be copied in full, with copyright,
contact, creation and information intact, without specific permission, when used
only in a not-for-profit format. If any other use is desired, permission in writing
from Dr. Mercola is required.